I love restoring books, but there is a unique pleasure in taking basic elements such as leather wood and paper and creating something beautiful from design to completion. This book nods to several eras of bookbinding history; the wooden, laced-on cover boards were common in medieval times, and the unfinished page edges have an ancient […]
One of the largest I’ve seen, this battered beauty survived the past century only to be caught in a house fire. Unlike its companion whose cover was charred beyond redemption, this one merely lost its spine and sustained some soot and smoke damage. Some of the pages were torn and tattered, and the sewing had […]
This 160 year old compilation of Shakespeare’s works came to me in fairly sound condition, just missing most of the spine and a little scuffed and battered. The client wanted a new spine put on the book and labeled with gold-tooled titling, and the general wear and tear retouched as much as possible without taking […]
A traditional half binding with a rounded spine and false bands, covered in a lovely blue-green goatskin and beautiful bouquet pattern Robert Wu hand marbled paper. With ivory toned blank pages in laid pattern, this little book is perfect for journaling, sketching or creative writing.
A large, soft and flexible wrap journal made of supple cowhide, antique hahnemuhle ingres paper and Irish linen thread bound in a long stitch binding. The longstitch style ensures the pages will open perfectly flat, ideal for drawing, sketching, calligraphy and handlettering projects.
This absolutely gorgeous book came to me with both covers detached and the spine missing, taking some cover leather with it. The leather was worn and the beautiful gold tooling on the cover, including the engraved name of the client’s grandfather, was dirty and faded. With a new leather spine in the style of the […]
Used for years by the client’s preacher grandfather, this Bible was in terrible shape but had great sentimental value. The covers were too deteriorated to save, but she requested I preserve parts of them as labels for the memories. I repaired the tattered pages, sewed it back together, and inset the labels into the new […]
A client asked me to convert his paper back facsimile copies of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (originally published in the 1700’s) into more period-appropriate hardcover books.